All-purpose, portable, plastic storage containers, tool boxes, ice chests and the like, which have a base container with an open top and a cover for closing the open top, are well-known in the art. In some such containers, the cover merely rests on the lip of the base and, in some instances, can be snapped over the periphery of the lip of the base. In other instances, one edge of the cover is permanently hingedly attached to one upper edge of the base, with the opposite edge of the cover either merely resting on, or being latched and possibly locked to, the opposed edge of the base.
In still other versions of storage containers, opposed sides of the cover may merely be latched to the base and, when unlatched, the cover may be completely removed. Such a container is shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,697. The container of that patent is unique in that it provides opposed latches which can be locked with a padlock to hold the cover on the base. Its drawbacks, however, are that it takes two padlocks to completely secure the contents of the container and there is no provision for any hinged attachment resulting in the fact that, once unlatched, the only option available to the user is to totally remove the cover. Moreover, the latch of this patent can be difficult to assemble.
Most portable storage containers are rendered portable by, for example, a handle recessable in its cover. Such is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,706. The container of that patent, as well as others, can also be carried by grasping each end of the container at an area where the top overhangs the side walls. The container of the '697 patent can likewise be gripped at the sides by grasping the undersides of the latch mechanisms. Such side-gripping is most desirable for containers that are large enough to carry heavy items which would thus warrant two-handed lifting and carrying. Ideally, such handles would be easily assembled, recessed in the sides, and lockable in a carrying position but, to date, no one has designed such handles for these types of containers.
Other storage containers are rendered portable by providing the base thereof with one or more sets of wheels. Where one set of wheels is employed at one end of the container, usually some type of lifting handle must be utilized at the other end of the container so that such end of the container can be lifted and the container then moved on its wheels. At the present time, however, no such container has been designed so that the handle can be recessed in that other end of the container, readily assembled therein, and yet be of a sufficient length to enable the user to lift and move the container.
In addition, for storage, shipping and retail display purposes, it is desirable that the containers with their covers in place, and even the covers themselves, be readily, securely and safely stackable with each other. While some efforts have been made to make similar containers nestable, and their covers stackable, to-date it is not believed that any container/cover design is such that covers can be securely stacked on each other and entire containers can be securely stacked on each other.